No talks with Pakistan, no pressure on restarting talks: PM

New Delhi, April 10 (IANS) Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Friday denied any US pressure on India to restart talks with Pakistan and made it clear that the stalled composite dialogue will not resume unless Islamabad shows “sincere evidence” to prosecute all the pepetrators of the Mumbai carnage. “Let me say, there is no pressure on us to resume dialogue. If there is any attempt… we will not succumb to that pressure,” Manmohan Singh said when asked about media reports suggesting the US was pressuring India to resume talks with Pakistan.

“I have stated it several times that the dialogue with Pakistan is a necessity. We are neighbours and we can’t choose our neighbours,” the prime minister said in an interaction with members of the Indian Women’s Press Corps.

“This dialogue cannot resume unless Pakistan gives sincere evidence of its willingness to prosecute all those involved in the Mumbai attacks,” he said. He had made the same point over a week ago in London on the sidelines of the G20 summit.

The fifth round of composite dialogue between India and Pakistan froze after the Nov 26, 2008, Mumbai terror attacks. India has blamed elements in Pakistan for the carnage in which more than 170 people, including 29 foreigners, were killed.

Asked about remarks by the Lahore police chief insinuating the involvement of Indians in the attack on Sri Lankan cricketers last month, the prime minister said it was “a usual tactic to divert attention”. “The statement of the police chief needs to be dismissed with the contempt it deserves,” he said.